This invention relates generally to communication systems and, in particular, to dispatch systems and methods for assigning remote units to individual or shared channels in a dispatch service.
Traditional dispatch services support a variety of services in urban or remote areas, including for example trucking, delivery, taxi, public transportation and law enforcement. Dispatch services are also particularly suited for temporary and emergency setups such as search and rescue, fire fighting (domestic and forest) and remote medical teams. Most dispatch services are terrestrial-based, meaning that the antennas used for transmitting voice or data from the dispatch service directly to the remote units are located on earth. However, if the antennas are damaged by an earthquake, hurricane or fire for example, the dispatch service is disabled until another antenna can transmit the information from the dispatch station directly to the remote units.
Therefore, there is a significant need for a satellite-based dispatch service that uses satellites to broadcast to remote units and which assigns remote units to a shared channel when the number of remote units exceeds the number of available channels.